Inflation Is Starting to Bite Hard

The government and liberal media have done an amazing job of managing a person’s perception of inflation. As prices soar higher and higher, we are told all is well and there is nothing to worry about. And so far, the public has remained calm about inflation.

For several years we were warned that inflation was too low. They said our greatest fear should be deflation, which would somehow destroy the global economy. The Fed came up with a 2% target that they hoped to reach. When inflation went above the target range, we were told not to worry because the inflation is only “transitory” and prices would soon return to normal.

When the official inflation number came out last month that showed a 6.2% rise, it became clear that inflation is getting out of control. The left is starting to look like Kevin Bacon’s “All is well” character from Animal House.

Cargill CEO David MacLennan has changed his mind about “transitory” inflation and now believes it will be more persistent with higher food prices in 2022. He blamed elevated food prices on snarled supply chains, labor shortages, and adverse weather conditions, among other things.

There is clearly some type of demonic delusion at work that is blocking people’s ability to understand financial reality. A New York Times writer faced some brutal backlash after she mocked the “inflation hysterics” that she said were actually favoring the poor. Sarah Jeong, a member of the New York Times editorial board, tweeted that inflation was actually hurting rich people and not poor people as regularly reported in the media.

“All the stuff you see about inflation in the news is driven by rich people flipping their [explitive] because their parasitic assets aren’t doing as well as they’d like, and they’re scared that unemployment benefits + stimmy checks + 15 minimum wage + labor shortage is why,” Jeong said, adding the acronym for “just my thoughts.”

Several people known for their understanding of economics blasted her:

“This is idiotic. Asset prices have risen sharply. Inflation is squeezing at the middle of the income spectrum; wage growth is outpacing inflation at the bottom, and people at the top are enjoying asset price spikes,” replied Josh Barro of the Business Insider.

“This is absolutely idiotic gobbledygook. Those most worried about inflation are those whose wages have been eaten up by inflation. The rich, who have their money in assets like stocks and real estate, are making bank,” responded Ben Shapiro of the Daily Wire.

“I am once again begging non-econ pundits to talk to econ people before saying this stuff. Stocks are way up. Real estate is way up. Crypto is way up. Every financial asset is way up. REAL WAGES ARE DOWN,” replied Noah Smith, former Bloomberg Opinion Columnist.

“My grocery bill has gone up 25%, which is fine! I can afford it! But not everyone can. I don’t [care] about myself. But it’s a big deal if people can’t afford to buy milk, bread, ground beef, applesauce and yogurt for their kids and have to make choices,” responded writer Emily Zanotti.

The price of several basic food commodities has outpaced the reported inflation rate. Many of them are input costs for various other products. The grains are used in animal feed, which is why meat prices have risen sharply. Here is a list of some of the price increases for items over the past 12 months:

Oats 175%
Cotton 57%
Wheat 30%
Corn 40%
Sugar 30%
Canola 92%
Coffee 71%

The largest factor in driving up inflation is the creation of money and debt. Over the past year and a half, the amount of currency in circulation has increased by 40%. Despite all the talk about tapering, the Fed is still adding $120 billion each month. Congress just added a $1.2 trillion infrastructure spending bill, and it’s working on passing another bill with a $1.7 trillion price tag.

A big factor that is preventing the public from being alarmed over inflation is the stimulus money. The amount of money in checking and savings accounts went from $1.2 trillion to $3.6 trillion. During the Pandemic, people who own stocks saw a $5.6 trillion rise in the value of their holdings.

What will pop the bubble is people finally realizing that inflation is destroying the value of their money. That 6.2% inflation rate number is false. Economists that use the exact calculations used during the 1970s say the real rate of inflation is over 10%. If you had $20,000 in your savings account this same time last year, inflation just stole $2,000 from you.

I’m sure a lot of Christians would react to inflation by saying, “I don’t need to worry about inflation because Jesus is coming soon.” I take the nearness of the rapture into consideration for all adversities. When Jesus said we should “watch” because we don’t know the timing of the rapture, it implied that we should be mindful of anything that leads up to the end times. Since economic hardship is the mother’s milk of prophetic progress, we need to take steps that could buy us time for a monetary meltdown that could come before the tribulation hour.

“Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh” (Matthew 25:13).

–Todd

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Diving into the Cultural Cesspool

Billy Graham once told of being invited to a banquet at which celebrities from Hollywood and other segments of society would attend. The evangelist said a certain person was speaking and told an off-color joke. Billy said he, himself, smiled while all the other guests were laughing uproariously with delight over the joke.

At that moment, Graham said, he looked directly across the large banquet table from where he sat. His eyes immediately met the beautiful, famous, violet eyes of a friend. It was those of Elizabeth Taylor, one of the legends of Hollywood history.

They were staring almost sleepily at him. Her beautiful features were a mask of disappointment as she almost imperceptibly shook her head negatively, showing her disapproval.

“You shouldn’t be condoning by your smiles such ungodly conversation,” was her meaning.

Billy said he never forgot that lesson: that the believer is under constant surveillance by the world around us. It was a lesson well-learned, taught by a person, although his friend, who was by all accounts caught up in a wicked, show-business.

We sometimes—at least yours truly does—get frustrated and even angry when the media types, whether in news or entertainment, attack a minister or other Christian for one perceived misstep or another. As a matter of fact, there doesn’t even have to be a true misstep. The media people will just make up things while supposedly reporting the story.

Yet those within their own ranks who do truly wicked things, more often than not –unless there is a political purpose in condemning those acts—refuse to report the incident. Those among their own ranks are given passes, with no reportorial consequences.

We know that it is Satan and his minions, both human and supernatural, who are at the heart of fomenting such unfair, hypocritical vitriol against those who claim the name of Christ.

But is it really unfair?

The very fact that there is such a hypocritical stance in being held to a different set of standards offers proof of the fallen state–the depravity of man.

The world is becoming an increasingly stench-laden cesspool. The difference between good and evil, between the godly and ungodly, is painfully discernable. The good seems to be losing–the wickedness seems to be winning.

It is by “witness” that we present the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We have no choice in this time of growing corruption at every level of human activity but to be in this cesspool environment.

We cannot be effective witnesses if we close off our ears, eyes, words, and actions from all that is going on around us—i.e., we must be in the world, but not of the world. It is our commission to go unto the entire world with the Good News–the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

This was why Billy Graham told the true story of his own failure–or perceived failure—by Miss Taylor. Perhaps the greatest evangelist of modern times, Billy was not wrong in being among those hedonist banquet goers. He was wrong, he thought, by appearing to not condemn the speaker’s dirty joke.

His friend, Liz Taylor, was holding him to a different standard–a much higher standard. And, Graham concluded, this was not unfair. Christians being held to a higher standard by the lost of this world proves they are convicted of their sin. They might cast their condemning mockery in our direction, but all it proves is that they are without excuse. They know the difference between godliness and ungodliness.

By all accounts, Elizabeth Taylor truly loved her friend and admired his always adhering to Bible truth. She was rightfully disappointed when she saw him smile–out of the awkwardness of the moment, no doubt, but smile he did, nonetheless.

Now this takes us to the point that brings out another failure of recent days within the community of believers. And, to me, it is an egregious failure because it opened the great cause of Christ to media mockery of every sort.

Everyone knows of the chant that went viral and remains at the forefront of the political world. “Let’s go Brandon,” is the chant, produced by a reporter interviewing a race driver after his victory. The background chant that was heard in her interview with the driver was one I won’t put here, but most readers know its verbiage. It was invective against the present occupant of the White House.

The unedited version–the one the reporter quickly changed to avoid embarrassment of her network—is now heard at many college football games and in other venues. A word that not long ago would never be spoken –or rarely so—in so-called mixed company, now is used brazenly among many of the fairer sex, as well as by the male population.

For me to even state such shows the generation of which I’m a part. There seem to be no guardrails, and it is troubling to me.

Now we hear the congregation of a church with a national and international audience chanting the so-called cleaned-up version of the original chant. The media has played it incessantly. The media, which is itself proving every news cycle to be as wicked as any part of this debased culture, is pointing to the fact that this church, representing the Christian community that claims God’s message that you must be saved, is using the same ungodly language as found on the streets that church claims as sinful.

This is a fair accusation. The media in this case is right in condemning the hypocrisy.

To have allowed the congregation to get the chant started was bad enough, in my view. But to let them continue, while broadcasting before a national and international audience, was a horrendous thing.

We are to be in the world. We have no choice. But to be of the world is something to be avoided at all cost.

The church body in question has done the equivalent of diving headlong into the cultural cesspool. I hope there is repentance forthcoming for this body of believers and its pastor, both of whom have been followed and respected across America and throughout the world.

— Terry

Lawlessness Leads to Tyranny

If I were to describe the level of lawlessness that we are now seeing in America to a year 2000 audience, they would likely think that was crazy. We don’t just have high crime in our major cities; we are losing the ability to have a functioning society.

In my youth, drugs, gangs, and robbery were the top concerns. Some people didn’t need to worry that much about crime because most of that stuff took place in the bad part of town. Today shoplifting is at such an epidemic level, we may soon see retailers and drug stores become as rare as record and book stores.

I’ve written before about stores closing because thieves are legally allowed to just walk in, fill their bags up with goods, and walk out the front door. On average, thieves are stealing more than 100 million dollars worth of merchandise from our retailers every single day. Since most retailers only make a profit at around 2-3%, they can’t stay in business with this level of theft.

This crisis wasn’t the result of a bad economy. Liberal city leaders rolled back laws that punished shoplifters. In many cities, as long as you only steal a certain dollar amount, you will not be charged with a felony. The few people who are arrested are normally released after being booked, and they never see a day before a judge.

Gangs of professional looters will sweep in on a target and snatch items that can be easily sold on the street. It’s not just the high-end designer clothing that is being targeted. In Connecticut, a group of thieves stole vast quantities of laundry detergent from a store.

The store workers just stood around and watched the crime take place. In a video that someone posted to Twitter, you can hear an employee warning another not to intervene because he will get fired. If the store goes out of business, he’ll still get fired. There was a time when a person would be made employee of the month for stopping the most amount of theft.

I found one news item that said Target had to close several of its bathrooms because people were taking merchandise into the bathroom, taking the item out of its container, and flushing the cardboard or plastic down the toilet. It’s a huge expense to clean out the plumbing. To combat the problem, Target installed mobile baths outside their stores and said they were remodeling the ones inside the store.

If you thought that leaders in these liberal cities would be embarrassed by the looting they’ve triggered, you would be wrong. The people of San Francisco don’t understand the pitfalls of changing the rules that allow people to steal $950 worth of goods at any one time.

The drugstore chain Walgreens recently said it would be closing an additional five stores in the city, bringing the number of shuttered locations to 22 in the past five years, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. The company has cited “organized retail crime” for the closings. Instead of crying for a crackdown on crime, the news has been met with intense skepticism.

The Chronicle published a story that, citing data from the city’s Police Department, pointed out how one store set to close “had only seven reported shoplifting incidents this year and a total of 23 since 2018.” While it is important to note that not all incidents are reported to police, the five stores being shut down “had fewer than two recorded shoplifting incidents a month on average since 2018.”

San Francisco’s own leaders have openly questioned the company’s claims. “They are saying [retail theft is] the primary reason, but I also think when a place is not generating revenue, and when they’re saturated — S.F. has a lot of Walgreens locations all over the city — so I do think that there are other factors that come into play,” Mayor London Breed said last week.

Walgreens obviously has a financial reason for closing those 22 stores. If it were me, I would close all my stores in San Francisco just because I would not want to support the most leftist city in America. Walgreens is a corporation that has a financial responsibility to make money for its shareholders. If it’s in a location that is losing money, it needs to stop the bleeding.

In addition to retail theft, there has been an alarming rise in the number of “follow-home robberies.” Apparently, criminals are specifically targeting highly vulnerable people. Once a sufficient target has been identified, the crooks follow the target all the way home before robbing the individual.

In some cases, professional criminals are not just satisfied with robbing people. In Las Vegas, an 82-year-old woman was buried in her backyard, and then the criminals took over her home and her finances.

“After finding her, the decision was made between several people that they were going to dismember her body and bury her,” Metro homicide Lt. Ray Spencer told KLAS-TV. “And then basically drain her finances and sell off her belongings, fraudulently.”

Lucille Payne’s neighbors said that her house appeared empty for years, but the police did not become suspicious of her home until they received a tip this April.

Finding Payne’s body did not take long as “she was not buried very deeply,” Spencer told the news station. “An officer started to move the dirt and found her arm inside a very shallow grave in the backyard,” he said.

In Seattle, the downtown area has become so dangerous that city employees are now being escorted by security guards once they leave work.

King County’s new ‘walking bus’ will debut on November 15, and see council workers based in Downtown Seattle and nearby Pioneer Square escorted to a nearby train station and ferry terminal each evening before being left to continue their commute home.

As our nation reaches the point where it becomes dysfunctional, people will reach the point where they support a vital backlash against crime. Shoplifters may be executed on the spot. When drug crime got bad in the Philippines, the people voted in a president that gave the police freedom to kill drug traffickers on the spot.

The world will soon surrender to a man that will save international problems. Of course, he will be the antichrist, the man who will plunge the planet into World War III. The lawlessness we now see is a clear indicator that the rapture is very near.

“But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be” (Mat. 24:37).

–Todd

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Modern Sodom Census

Moving ever deeper into the end of the age, it shouldn’t surprise that signs that we’re “nearing midnight” are manifesting in increasingly profound ways. Seeing those signals proliferating at an alarming rate is nonetheless troubling.

We who watch prophetic progression from the pre-Trib viewpoint are troubled more than most. We’re perturbed by what Bill Koening of “Koenig’s Eye View from the White House” calls “the clueless church.”

Koenig says:

I continue to hear from many Christians that a majority of the church, even evangelicals, have no awareness of the biblical and prophetic significance of these days. The replacement theology part of the church was in the 100 million range according to my 2004 study.

For those of us who are sensitive to these times, this is hard to comprehend. Moreover, many pastors have no understanding of Bible prophecy. In some cases, those who have some understanding don’t want to scare their flock. Others have no interest.

With all this said, only the God of Israel knows how these biblically significant days will play out. (https://www.watch.org/subscribers/koenigs-eye-view/article/83238)

Once again, I sense I almost should apologize for presenting this commentary from the America-centric position. But as the nation that has been for most of its brief life considered Christian, at least in its founding, the fall from that admittedly overstated position demonstrates profound prophetic implication.

Our culture, steeped in its perceived youthfulness, has until its fairly recent past matured in a common-sense way toward full recognition of its Christian heritage. The young adults gravitated toward responsibility in planning their own lives and families. That trajectory changed without a doubt beginning in the 1960s.

National leaders seem to have lost their collective minds during that era—a wickedness that still is herding the nation toward the “reprobate mind” of Romans 1:28. They removed Bible reading and prayer from the public classrooms and have tried since to remove any mention of Jesus Christ from all facets of American life.

How could we expect our youth to continue in the American tradition that started with the country’s founding? How could we expect that, since those responsible for governing in a way that keeps us on the constitutional track the founders gave us have abdicated that responsibility?

Not only have a large number of leaders legislated and enacted anti-God governance, many of these have led by example, in many cases blatantly presenting some of the most hedonistic lifestyles imaginable.

Satan’s blueprint for destroying the nation began to reconstruct America’s national architecture in a big way with the above-mentioned removal of Bible reading and prayer. The result in the 1960s was the loss of the nation’s youthfulness. “Free love” came with the hippies, a young American president was assassinated—as were his brother and a top black minister and civil rights leader. Fifty-something thousand of America’s youth were lost in the bloody Vietnam war.

Although most of today’s Millennial generation know little of that history of fifty years ago, they are its victims. This doesn’t excuse their movement into behavior that rivals the behavior of those who lived during the days of Lot in that wicked city, Sodom. Each individual is responsible for his or her own acceptance or rejection of God’s way—through belief in Jesus Christ, who is the Way (John 14:6).

The point is, a large portion of this Millennial demographic is now well down the pathway that brought God’s judgment in Lot’s day in Sodom.

The following news item is quite disturbing:

While most millennials view Jesus and the Bible as at least “a little positive,” nearly one-third of America’s largest, most educated and misunderstood generation also identify as LGBT, and 75% of them admit to “searching for a sense of purpose in life,” a new report from Arizona Christian University shows.

The report, New Insights into the Generation of Growing Influence: Millennials In America by George Barna, who leads research at Arizona Christian University’s Cultural Research Center, explains in an analysis of the findings that a number of the daunting challenges faced by the generation of 78 million—defined in this report as those born from 1984 through 2002—are deeply connected to their spiritual perspectives.

“For understandable reasons, millions of millennials reject organized religion, or have qualms about religious leaders, and especially about religious people who may prove to be hypocritical. Their experiences, observations and assumptions regarding religion, spiritual beliefs, and faith practices have produced a turbulent spiritual experience,” wrote Barna, who’s also an ACU professor focusing on worldview assessment, development and cultural transformation…

Barna suggested that a solution to the challenges being faced by millennials including their lack of purpose in life can be addressed by shifting worldview.

“Your worldview is the foundation of your decision-making. Every choice you make emerges from your worldview, which serves as the filter through which you experience, observe, imagine, interpret, and respond to reality. And every one of the thousands of choices you make every day have consequences. That means worldview is at the heart of everything we are considering in relation to the well-being and development of the young adult generation,” he wrote.

“Given the centrality of worldview to the human experience, there can be no improvements to the life millennials lead without addressing the fundamental role of worldview,” he explained. “And because worldview is developed and carried out in the competitive marketplace of beliefs and behaviors, think about the pervasive consequences for millennials of rejecting the biblical worldview in favor of other, more popular alternatives.” (“Most millennials like Jesus and the Bible, but 30% identify as LGBT: study,” Leonardo Blair, Christian Post Reporter, 11/4/21)

The nation has taken a nosedive into the cesspool of swamplike societal godlessness. Can we expect the young, with their hormones raging and their zest for constant exhilaration, no matter how it is attained, to be the guardians of the American future?

The church—all born-again believers—has failed in many ways, thus allowing the developments we’re experiencing. There is a way back to godly sensibility. He is the Way, Truth, and Life. His name is Jesus.  He is coming soon to call believers to Himself. Meanwhile, let’s do our best to put that name back into our classrooms—and our public as well as private life.

Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:9-11)

–Terry